Is DNS configuration ever considered as a factor in "DNS performance"? IME as an end user, it makes a significant difference.

For example if it takes seven queries to resolve a name "A" versus two queries to look up a name "B", then in almost all cases, irrespective of the distance to a cache, looking up A is going to be noticeably slower than looking up B. Indirection is only one example. Even worse are configuations that knowingly trigger retries and wait for client timeouts in order to present a client with a particular nameserver.

Indirection and other "DNS tricks" come at a cost. IME, these are not compensated for via the proximity of a cache.